Dubai: A worker has been charged with attempting to rape a 10-year-old British schoolgirl while she was riding her bicycle outside her house, a court heard on Monday.

Prosecutors said that the 10-year-old schoolgirl allegedly freed herself by kicking the 27-year-old Bangladeshi worker who, along with another suspect who remains at large attempted to rape her.

Prison wardens failed to produce A.B., the defendant, before the Dubai Court of First Instance where he was scheduled to be tried before Presiding Judge Hamad Abdul Latif Abdul Jawad.

According to the chargesheet, prosecutors charged A.B. with trying to rape the schoolgirl by immobilising and gagging her. And when he tried to rape her, the girl allegedly kicked him and broke free.

Call from home

The girl's 44-year-old father said that his wife had informed him over the phone that their daughter had gone out to play at 4pm and hadn't returned.

"I left work and rushed home… when I reached the place, my wife and I searched for our daughter.

"Around 6pm, we spotted our daughter standing at the villa's entrance near the security guard and she was crying.

"We took her inside to know why she didn't come back home," the father said.

Prosecution records quoted the schoolgirl alleging to her father that while she was searching for mice while riding on her bicycle, two workers walked towards her.

"She claimed to me that one of them grabbed her by her belly and put his hand on her mouth, then asked the other one to undress her, wanting to abuse her. Then she alleged that she freed herself and kicked one of the men and left the place," the father said.

An Emirati corporal testified to prosecutors that after the incident, a police team combed the neighbourhood and detained two suspects, including A.B.

"I questioned A.B. who confessed that he grabbed the schoolgirl by her belly and gagged her but she broke free before he could undress her. The girl identified A.B. at the police line-up but didn't identify the other suspect who denied any involvement in the incident," the corporal said.

Presiding Judge Abdul Jawad adjourned the case to May 20 for the suspect to be produced in court.